Arrays of microneedles were proposed as a way of administering drugs through the skin in the 1970s, for example in expired U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,482. Microneedle arrays can facilitate the passage of drugs through human skin and other biological membranes in circumstances where ordinary transdermal administration is inadequate. Microneedle arrays can also be used to sample fluids found in the vicinity of a biological membrane such as interstitial fluid, which is then tested for the presence of biomarkers.
In recent years it has become more feasible to manufacture microneedle arrays in a way that makes their widespread use financially feasible. U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,240 discloses some methods of manufacturing microneedle arrays. If the arrays are sufficiently inexpensive, for example, they may be marketed as disposable devices. A disposable device may be preferable to a reusable one in order to avoid the question of the integrity of the device being compromised by previous use and to avoid the potential need of resterilizing the device after each use.
In addition to cost, integrity, and sterility, a further issue with microneedle arrays is bioavailability of the active agent. An intravenous injection delivers a precise quantity of an active agent to the circulation. A subcutaneous or intramuscular injection delivers a precise quantity of an active agent into the tissue, but the quantity of active agent delivered to the circulation and the rate at which active ingredient is delivered are affected by the type of surrounding tissue, circulation, and possibly other factors. When a drug is delivered orally, the resulting blood levels may exhibit substantial variation among patients due to metabolism and other factors, but minimal therapeutic levels can be assured for most patients, for example, because the speed of metabolism has an upper limit and because there is long experience with the absorption of many drugs from oral formulations. When a drug is delivered to unmodified skin by a conventional transdermal patch, the bypassing of the hepatic circulation may lessen the effect of liver metabolism on bioavailability. On the other hand, with a conventional transdermal patch, differences in skin permeability are an additional factor leading to differences in bioavailability.
Microneedles manipulate the permeability of the skin with respect to the active agent. Variability in the permeability enhancement created by different applications of the microneedles will result in variations in the rate of transfer through the skin, the amount transferred through the skin and the bioavailability. Variability of skin permeability enhancement on the application of a microneedle array can result from application on different patients. Particular concern exists, of course, if the enhancement is small in particular patient populations so that the administration of the drug will not produce a therapeutically effective dosing (e.g., adequate blood levels) in those populations. Concern may arise also if the enhancement is sometimes undesirably small in a patient, even if at other times the enhancement is as expected in that patient, depending on details of how and where the microneedle array is applied.
A typical microneedle array comprises microneedles projecting from a base of a particular thickness, which may be of any shape, for example square, rectangular, triangular, or circular. The microneedles themselves may have a variety of shapes. While an array could be pressed by hand into skin, it has also been proposed to use a variety of devices to hold the microneedle array as it is being applied or to facilitate in one way or another the process of microneedle array application to the skin or other biological membrane. Such devices may broadly be referred to as “applicators.” Applicators may for example reduce the variations in force, velocity, and skin tension that occur when a microneedle array is pressed by hand into the skin. Variations in force, velocity and skin tension can result in variations in permeability enhancement.
In some applications of microneedle arrays, they may be applied to the skin or other biological membrane in order to form microchannels and then more or less immediately withdrawn. In other applications the microneedle array may be held in place for a longer period of time. The design of the applicator may naturally be influenced by how long the microneedles are expected to stay in place.
In the use of microneedle arrays, particularly when the arrays are kept in place for a prolonged period of time, devices to transport the drug substance to the skin may be employed. A very simple such device may, for example, comprise a reservoir for liquid or solid drug substance which is kept in contact with the base, with the liquid drug substance flowing through small apertures in the base or by diffusion when solid drug substance is used. Another device suitable for delivering the drug substance to skin is described in U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2005/0094526. Rotary applicators have been disclosed in U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2004/0087992. There is some disclosure relating to applicators, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,537,242, 6,743,211 and 7,087,035.
There is therefore a need in the art for applicators and related devices suitable for use with microneedle arrays, for example, in order to assist in making the process of drug delivery more user friendly and uniform across patients and for different applications to the same patient.